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It was an engineering project to rival any of the works of the Pharaohs. Upon its completion in 1970, the Aswan High Dam forever changed the heartbeat of the river Nile. The cycle of floods and unpredictable famines came to an end, and for the first time Egypt appeared to have something that had previously seemed unimaginable: water security.

But for all of the planning and forethought that went into this this achievement, there were many unintended consequences, some of which cannot be undone.

Just 24 years after the Aswan High Dam was completed, science reporter Richard Smith travelled to Egypt to investigate what happened after the completion of the dam brought an end to the annual floods.

The result was this two-part documentary, first screened on ABC-TV's Quantum program. It remains compelling viewing to this day, especially for anyone seeking to understand the formidable challenges still facing modern Egypt — one of the oldest civilisations on Earth...

2015 Update

Egypt's population has now reached 85 million — 30 million more than when this program was made, and 2.5 times greater than when the Aswan High Dam was first completed.

Upstream on the Blue Nile, which is the source of 60 per cent of Egypt's water, Ethiopia is presently constructing a massive hydroelectric project, the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The project has become a source of tension between the two countries.

Egypt fears the project will reduce water availability during the filling of the dam and, because of evaporation from the reservoir, lead to a permanent decline in the volume of water reaching Egypt. Ethiopia counters with claims that the rate of evaporation from the new dam will be much lower than that from Aswan's Lake Nasser, and should therefore lead to an overall increase in water availability.

Ethiopia is facing its own development challenges, with a population of 96 million growing even faster then Egypt's.